7S6 PRACTICE OF AGRICULTURE. Part III. 



three carts may be used, one always filling in the yard, another going to the field, and a 

 third returning ; the leading horse of the empty cart ought then to be unyoked, and put 

 to the full one. In the same manner, while one pair of horses are preparing the land 

 for sowing turnips, the other three horses may be employed in carrying the dung to the 

 land, either with two or three carts, as the situation of the ground may happen to require. 

 By extending the same management to other farm operations, a considerable saving of 

 labor may be effected. 



4543. Previously to engaging in a work, whether of ordinary practice, or of intended 

 improvement, the best consideration of which the farmer is capable ought to be given to 

 it, till he is satisfied that it is advisable for him to attempt it. When begun, he ought 

 to proceed in it with much attention and perseverance, until he has given it a fair 

 trial. It is a main object, in carrying on improvements, not to attempt too much at 

 once ; and never to begin a work without a probability of being able to finish it in due 

 season. 



4544. By the adoption of these rules, every farmer will be master of his time, so that 

 every thing required to be done, will be performed at the proper moment ; and not 

 delayed till the season and opportunity have been lost. The impediments arising from 

 bad weather, sick servants, or the occasional and necessary absence of the master, will, 

 in that case, be of little consequence, nor embarrass the operations to be carried on ; and 

 the occupier will not be prevented from attending to even the smallest concerns con- 

 nected with his business, on the aggregate of which his prosperity depends. 



Sect. IV. Of domestic Management and personal Expenses. 



4545. On domestic affairs, a hint may suffice. Young farmers beginning house- 

 keeping, like most others in similar circumstances, are apt to sink too great a proportion 

 of their capital in furniture, and furnishing riding-horses, carriages, &c. ; and some- 

 times to live up to, or even beyond, their income. We do not mean that farmers should 

 not live as well as other men of the same property ; but merely that all beginners should 

 live within their income. Even in the marketing expenses care is requisite ; and the 

 prudent farmer will do well, every penny or sixpence he lays out, to reckon up in his 

 mind what that sum per day would amount to in a year. The amount will often 

 astonish him, and lead to economy, and where practicable, retrenchment. Saving, as 

 Franklin has inculcated, is the only certain way of accumulating money. 



4546. In regard to housekeeping, it is [observed in The Code of ^Agriculture, that the 

 safest plan is, not to suffer it to exceed a certain sum for bought articles weekly. An 

 annual sum should be allotted for clothing, and the personal expenses of the farmer, his 

 wife, and children, which ought not to be exceeded. The whole allotted expense should 

 be considerably within the probable receipts ; and if possible one -eighth of the income an- 

 nually received, should be laid up for contingencies, or expended in extra improvements 

 on the farm. 



BOOK VI. 



OF THE CULTURE OF FARM LANDS. 



4547. The business of farming consists of the culture of vegetables, and the treatment 

 or culture of animals ; in practice these are generally carried on together, but may be 

 more conveniently treated of apart. In this Book, therefore, we confine ourselves to the 

 culture of vegetables, and shall consider in succession the general processes of culture ; 

 the culture of corn and pulse j of roots and leaves ; of herbage plants ; of grasses ; and 

 of manufactorial plants. 



Chap. I. 



Of the general Processes common to Farm Lands. 



4548. Among general processes, those which merit particular notice in this place, are 

 the rotation of crops, the working of fallows, and the management of manures. The 

 theory of these processes has been already given intreatingof soils and manures (Part II. 

 Book III.); and it therefore only remains to detail their application to practice under 

 different circumstances. 



